San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval scores as Philadelphia Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp stands by during the ninth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner)
By Morris Phillips
SAN FRANCISCO–All the neat stuff that last place clubs rarely get to do, the Giants and Phillies got to do to each other on Saturday night.
A pinch-hit grand slam, a leadoff inside-the-park home run, a seven-run rally for the winners, and a oh-so-close, five-run rally in the ninth for the losers highlighted the Phillies 12-9 win over the Giants. The fans got into it, appreciating the Giants’ effort in narrowing a 12-4 deficit, and getting the tying run to the plate with the game’s last batter.
Small victories for struggling clubs, no doubt, but enough to, briefly, make the home fans forget that the Giants fell a staggering, 39 games behind the first place Dodgers with the loss.
“You love the fight,” manager Bruce Bochy said of his club. “And you hate to score nine runs and not win the ballgame.”
What was a well-played and competitive game through five innings, relinquished all of that when the Phillies got a pinch-hit, grand slam from Ty Kelly to cap their seven-run sixth. Kelly, from Tracy, got a nice ovation from his friends and family in attendance after lofting a Cody Gearrin pitch into the right field arcade.
“If you make a mistake like they did tonight, he doesn’t try to overpower, he just tries to put the head on it and that’s what he did tonight,” Phillies’ manager Pete Mackanin said of Kelly.
Kelly pinch-hit for Adam Morgan, who threw one pitch and win the game. Jerad Eickhoff started for the Phillies and endured a rough outing. Mackanin pulled Eickhoff with a runner aboard in the fifth, but Morgan retired Brandon Crawford to quell the threat.
Pittsburgh Pirates’ Josh Bell, left, reacts after striking out swinging against San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija in the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in San Francisco. At right is Giants catcher Buster Posey. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
By Morris Phillips
SAN FRANCISCO–Even if the victories are small ones, the Giants have to relish them. They’re all they have.
On Wednesday, the Giants snuck by the Pirates, 2-1, and captured the series, the second time they won a series on this homestand. And yes, a 5-5 homestand is an accomplishment for a team that hit just two home runs in the 10 games, and has a losing record at home (22-29).
And they got Jeff Samardzija in the win column, which helps makes sense of his confusing season in which he’s lost 11 games but been consistent, maddening and sharp as well. This was one of his best outings, the eighth time in 21 starts that he did not allow a home run. When Samardzija does allow at least one homer, he’s 1-9. When he strikes out at least eight batters, he’s 3-5. Samardzija struck out eight on Wednesday.
“All you want to do is keep your team in the game, eat up innings for the bullpen and if you get a lead, protect it,” Samardzija said.
In this case, Samardzija protected the lead before he got it with his defense in the second inning. After Adam Frazier tied it with his RBI double, Jordy Mercer was intentionally walked to load the bases, bringing up Pirates’ starter Trevor Williams. Williams’ chopper to Samardzija’s right was grabbed by the pitcher barehanded who then wheeled and threw home to force out Francisco Cervelli attempting to score the go-ahead run.
“I was just doing the only option I had,” Samardzija said. “I didn’t think I had a chance at first.”
“At one time he was the best wide receiver in Chicago, and that might include the pro team,” Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle said of Samardzija’s seamless putout. “It doesn’t surprise me when he makes a play like that.”
Samardzija went on to retire 13 hitters consecutively and allow four hits on the afternoon, giving the Giants rare checks in the pitching and defensive categories. Given that, the San Francisco offense could afford to be spotty, and it was due to Williams. But the 1-1 tie game turned in the seventh inning when leftfielder Sterling Marte lost Brandon Belt’s pop up in the sun.
Rookie pinch-hitter Miguel Gomez doubled ahead of Belt and scored the go-ahead run on Belt’s fly ball, which was ruled a double.
Relievers Hunter Strickland and Sam Dyson combined to record the final six outs, and the Giants recorded just their sixth win all season when they only score one or two runs. Manager Bruce Bochy rolled his most veteran lineup (minus the just departed Eduardo Nunez, traded to Boston) for the third straight game and picked up a win, on the rare day where the team’s usual, lack of offense didn’t result in another loss.
After an off-day the Giants open a three-game set against the Dodgers in Los Angeles with Matt Moore on the mound opposite Alex Wood, who is 11-1 for the Dodgers.
San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey follows through as he drives in a run with a double against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, June 26, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
By Morris Phillips
Ease up on dissension stories, put a noose on the negativity, look no further for factions and infighting. If only for a night, the focus fell on the diamond, as the Giants became winners again.
Jeff Samardzija pitched into the seventh inning, and four Giants produced multi-hit games in a 9-2 rout of the Rockies, ending the team’s woeful stretch of 12 losses in 13 games. The win also snapped a streak of nine, consecutive losses to the Rockies, the longest such streak of Giants’ losses in the nearly 25 seasons of meetings between the two clubs.
Manager Bruce Bochy stuck with his most veteran lineup Monday, and was rewarded with three-hit games from Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, while Denard Span and Joe Panik each had a pair of hits at the top the lineup. The Giants scored in three of the first four innings off German Marquez, who failed to win for a third, consecutive start.
Samardzija again pitched well enough to win, but this time, he did win. The Shark tamed the same lineup that was unforgiving in Denver on June 16, when Samardzija allowed a season-worst eight runs and 11 hits. This time, with all his pitches working, the righthander cruised through the first six innings before adversity struck in the seventh. Still, his two runs and six hits allowed performance was enough to get the decision, and avoid a major league-worst tenth loss.
“We have a hard time scoring runs for him, but tonight he got rewarded for a great effort,” manager Bruce Bochy said.
Samardzija continued to be stingy with opposing hitters, by striking out five and walking none. That extends a streak of 12 starts in which he’s struck out 82 batters while walking just four. But he’s only 3-5 in that stretch, another example of how hard wins, and run support, have been to come by for a club that’s 23 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.. after gaining ground on Monday.
“Obviously we’re trying to score runs for him,” Brandon Crawford said. “At times, we try too hard, we’re pressing.”
Samardzija’s received the third worst support in the big leagues this season, barely three runs per game on average, but he hasn’t dwelled on it, in part due to previous experience. In 2014, as a member of the Cubs, he went the first 10 starts of the season without a win, despite pitching deep into all 10 starts, and compiling a miniscule 1.46 ERA.
“Even when it’s not going well, you go out and give it all you got,” he said.
Monday’s win came on the heels of a story written by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that depicted the Giants as a divided clubhouse, in part due to disagreement over pre-game stretching routines that conflict with new closer Mark Melancon’s preferred, pre-night game routine. Add Rosenthal’s contention that the Giants lack fiery personalties, leaving them cemented in a lethargy of losing, and you have something to talk about.
A bewildered Bochy did just that before Monday’s game.
“It’s pole vaulting over mouse turds, to be honest,” he said, when told of Rosenthal’s finer points.
Are the Giants a happy family then, despite losing at a record pace in a season they were built to compete for a fourth World Championship?
Probably not, but they do cut an unique swath across the greater canvas of losing. For one, big contracts are hard to move, and the Giants have a bunch of them. With the trade deadline roughly six weeks away, a market flooded with sellers won’t dislodge a gaggle of buyers. Only the most, desirable contracts will move, and the deals signed by Johnny Cueto, Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt, for examples, are expensive, complicated and downright undesirable.
Also, the Giants’ front office stubbornly has backed away from trade talks–for now–in hopes that some of the underperformers can turn it around. They can’t move everyone, and the majority of their roster wasn’t considered washed up until things collectively went south just two months ago.
For example, would you consider moving arbitration-eligible Joe Panik, a year after he was widely thought to be ascending to league batting champion status? Panik will be just 27 on Opening Day 2018, and he’s showing signs of progress after two, injury-marred seasons.
On Tuesday, Matt Cain gets the start for the Giants, Jeff Hoffman goes for the Rockies at 7:15pm.
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